Baby - 5 months

Zoey is learning and growing every day.  She is so much fun and has just a wonderful, calming personality.  At 5 months she:

Has discovered her fingers, ears and toes.

Tries to put her toes in her mouth but can't quite get there.

Has bit her thumb (and mom's chest) quite a few times.  It brings tears from both of us.

Is weaning off the "nursing."  Mainly only does it at night to go to sleep.

Likes to hold onto people's clothes, hair, jewelry, etc.

Has learned how to splash in the bathtub.

Has learned how to pull the bows off her head much to her mother's chagrin.

Looooves her daddy and gives him the biggest smiles.  He also got the best laugh out of her ever by waving a plastic garbage sack in front of her face.

Two weeks ago she was 26.5" (97%) and 15.15 lb. (84%).  Two inches taller than other babies her age!

Likes to go swimming and loves to be outside and watch the birdies.

Looooves her dolly and sucking on her pigtails.

Still has the 2 teeth that have poked through quite a bit.  Seemed to be teething a bit more last week but nothing showing yet.

Still eats 4-6 oz. every 3-4 hours.

Still needs her Prevacid.

Is in 3-6 mo. clothing but fits better in the closer to 6 mo. clothes.

Just started wearing size 3 diapers today.

Loves to smile then nestle her head into your chest like she is shy.

"Sings" and "talks" a ton.

Sometimes responds to her name.

Watches everything intently.  You can tell that she is a sponge.  My dad said he's never met a baby more inquisitive than her.

Goes to bed around 10:30 pm and Is sleeping between 8-9.5 hours a night. Wahoo!

I swear she says "hi" and still cries "ma, ma, maaaa" when she is sad.

Is so good with her hand and eye coordination and is starting to grab things with her thumb and pointer finger.

Watches everything we put in our mouths and wants to eat real food.  She also watches us on our phones and iPad and tries to play on them too.  She's smart!

We are so in love with her.  She is our reason and happiness.  We are so blessed to have such a sweet soul in our lives and are eternally grateful.  We love our Munchie more than words!

And just because it's funny:

Bombs Bursting in Air

 We headed up to the fireworks at Eaglewood (per tradition) on the 3rd of July.  When we finally got there, Zoey was hungry so I forced about 2 oz. down her since she was too enthralled with the people-watching to really eat.


I was a little curious as to how she'd react to the fireworks but when they finally started, she was ENTRALLED.  She just sat on my lap and didn't take her eyes off of them...then fell asleep in 10 min.  It was her bedtime anyway.

She wasn't happy on the way home - she got too hot with her jacket on - then got to bed way too late and slept until 9 am!  This weekend was an experiment on how long she'd actually sleep and it was close to 9 hours.  No wonder she cries when I wake her up to eat at 6:30 am.  Blasted job...

Our 4th of July festivities continued on the 4th with a BBQ with Dallin's family.  Mine was partying hard up in Lava Hot Springs.  We had dutch oven chicken, corn, yummy salads and dutch oven peach cobbler with ice cream.  We ended the night roasting s'mores in the firepit.  It was also Zoey's first time on grass.  She didn't mind it at all!  She is totally her father's child.  I have pictures of myself as a baby screaming my head off I hated it so bad and she didn't even mind one bit.  She's so easy-going about everything that if something makes her mad, I really take note and try to not expose her to it again (except tummy-time, sorry Zo Zo).

On the 5th we headed to the rec center to swim with Abuelita and Uncle Brian.  We were sure spoiled to have Dallin home all weekend too.  She loved the pool and loved chewing on the plastic star fish on her floatie.  After about an hour she was so tired we headed for home.  We went over to our old neighbor's house for take out and games.  It was good to be back in our old stomping grounds, I miss it so much.  We have so many great memories there and it just wouldn't be the same without Mags.

On the 6th it was Dallin's birthday and we had family over for a BBQ of hamburgers and to watch the UFC fights.  Dallin and I had gone to lunch at the World's Best Corndog place on Main Street in Kaysville that afternoon.  The corndogs were really yummy and you could get one with a drink for $5.  They even drizzled it with honey if you wanted which was yummy but bordering on too sweet.  I really liked them but they weren't QUITE as good as Disneyland.  I think it was the Costco hot dogs they use which gave me killer heartburn the rest of the day.

I think Dallin had a really great #31.  The UFC fight was actually really good and not bloody which is the only way I'll watch.

Look at my teeth!

So here we are with the 4th under our belts.  Like I always say, once the 4th hits, the rest of the year is almost over and just FLIES by.

Bestie

My best friend, Suzanne, welcomed her little guy the same day Zoey was blessed.  We finally got the two together (Zoey had a cold when we first met Phin so I didn't invite her to come).  We see lots of play dates in the future!  Isn't it amazing how much they change in 4 short months?

Bills

This is more for me than anything, but here is the folder where I kept all of the invoices from the vet and Maggie's insurance claims.  We really did try to give her the best life possible and I know in my heart we did everything possible for her.  We're getting along better each day but there hasn't been a day go by where I haven't thought about her and missed her sorely.  Hopefully time will continue to heal.  Thank you to all who have called, texted, emailed, sent cards and just plain prayed for us, we really appreciate it.

Bite

Dallin had this huge "bruise" on his ankle last weekend.  It was hurting him really bad and he'd been complaining about it for days so I finally convinced him to go to InstaCare last Saturday.  If I'm working for insurance and we've hit our deductible, you better believe we're going to take advantage!

I thought he'd sprained or fractured his ankle somehow. He couldn't put a finger on an incident that had happened to make it hurt, it had just started happening.  I noticed that the area was really hot compared to the rest of his leg.

Luckily we got right in at InstaCare.  The doctor wasn't sure what was going on.  A bug bite, an allergic reaction, a sprain?  All of the x-rays came back negative, we couldn't find a bit on the area and there weren't any scrapes for an infection.  His blood work came back alright with his hematocrit hinting that something was brewing so they put him on antibiotics, allergy medicine and and antihistam
ine to kind of hit it from all angles.

The Benadryl knocked him out so he probably won't be taking that again.  The swelling is finally going down, it's not as red and not has hot so we think it's working.  At least the red area isn't as big (or growing) and it's not hurting him as bad anymore.  It was all very strange and random.  Our basement apartment has been filled with spiders (ewwww) so I wonder if he got bit by one?  I made him an appointment with a family doctor this week to get things checked out and make sure everything is ok.

In semi-related news, here is a picture of the little chompers when they first came in.  It was torture trying to get a picture.  Sorry Zoey.  They are really through now and are easy to see when she grins.

Blessing

I'm really far behind.  Zoey's blessing day was a beautiful, hot, summer day on June 2.  We tried to make it a wonderful day and not think about the decision we'd made about Mags.  I was so excited to get Zoey dressed in her pretty white dress my mom bought for her.  We'd shopped tons of stores before finally settling on this one.  I think it was perfect.

Our families came over before church for photo ops because we knew afterward would be too crazy.  We got Zoey all fed and I was stressed putting her in the carseat in her dress since she never burped!  I was sure she'd puke everywhere.  She fell asleep on the way over and I left her in her carseat for a minute then took her out since she was getting too hot.  She was fine until right before they called her up and she started to fuss.  Yikes!

She calmed down and Dallin gave her a wonderful, sweet, blessing.  Our fathers and brothers were in the circle.  My grandpa wasn't feeling up to it and was so bummed and cried that he wasn't well enough to stand in the circle. :(

After Sacrament Meeting we rushed home to feed the throngs of people.  We had invited 115 people - almost exclusively family.  Dallin's cousin's wife asked me, "Is this ALL family?"  I said, "Yup!  Pretty much!"  It was an overwhelming and awesome sight. Dallin's uncle is suffering from cancer and we had had a special family fast as well.  After breaking the fast I thought about how we'll all be together in the eternities and it was really cool.  I love each of them so much and for so many different reasons and it's so wonderful to know we'll always be together.

We had a lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, salads and desserts.  I spent most of the time running around and didn't get to spend as much time visiting as I would have liked.  Zoey spent the afternoon inside where it was nice and air conditioned and napping in her auntie's arms.  We did miss my best friend Suzanne who was invited to her little boy's birthday party and spent the morning in labor!  Such an exciting day for her!  We were so excited to meet little Phin later on that week.

Maggie spent the afternoon begging for food and laying in the shade.  Lots of people commented on how she wasn't herself and she was just laying around.  She was pretty sick that day.  We were glad that people got to say goodbye.  After things were cleaned up our families got to say goodbye to her.  Our parents all cried. It was really hard to watch.  We finally let ourselves feel the sadness we'd been hiding and let the tears come.

We are so grateful for the Gospel and the miracle we feel Zoey is.  She is so wonderful and I'm so glad that Dallin is worthy to hold the priesthood and give her a name and a blessing.  We felt so loved that day and are so appreciative to all those who came out and supported us and Baby Zoey.

Birthday Boy

Happy #31 to my wonderful, amazing husband.  Here's 31 things that are great about him and why we love him:

1. He's so laid back and calm

2. He is a wonderful daddy and has a daughter who ADORES him

3. He is so loving and accepting

4. He honors his priesthood

5. He always wants to look his very best when leaving the house

6. He's very detailed and/or OCD :)

7. He is passionate about all things sports

8. He works so hard and is constantly being recruited by other departments because they know how good he is at what he does

9. He is always the first to volunteer to help

10. He puts others needs before his own

11. He does good works without asking or expecting anything in return

12. He can get Zoey laughing better than anybody can

13. He's not afraid to be silly or goofy

14. He gives great hugs

15. He has a strong testimony

16. He is sensitive

17. He puts up with me

18. He is quick to smile and has a killer one

19. He is so patient and kind

20. He is a good friend

21. He adores his family and the feeling is mutual

22. He always tries to make himself a better person

23. He loves rap and sometimes dances around the house - it's awesome

24. He's very thoughtful

25. He's romantic

26. He's really strong - spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally

27. He has the cutest laugh -I love it when he does

28. He has a great sense of humor and does some pretty funny pranks and says some pretty funny stuff.  I don't think anybody makes me laugh more than him

29. He has a little mini-me in girl version named Zoey who has all of his best qualities

30.  He is a really great artist

31. Everybody who comes in contact with him, loves him

Happy birthday to the best guy that I know.  Love you more and more each day!